Week 22: May 26 - June 1, 2003

Key Passage: Gen 32: 24-26

Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

There is a dimension of faith whereby a man lays hold of God in the spirit and refuses to let go until God lets go of the blessing he is seeking for. This is the dimension of ‘adamant faith’. It is the true faith of people who have power with God (Gen 32:28). These are the true champions of faith who are ready to do everything that it takes to win.

Jacob was pressed to the wall because of the bitter circumstances of his life. Born as the blessed child of a blessed man, Jacob lived the major part of his life as a man laboring under a curse. His past dubious life was hunting him from every side. He was alone and distressed, desperate for a blessing, when he saw a man at night and wrestled with him till dawn. He would not let go until the man blessed him. That was faith in action.

There are times when faith would seem arrogant, because it refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer. That is the faith that cannot be shouted down; the faith that cannot be turned back; the faith that cannot be frustrated and the faith that cannot be denied. There are times we need such arrogance against denial to see us through desperate situations. At such times, faith becomes the desperate action of desperate men and women who know their God.

The woman with the issue of blood said, “No matter what, I must touch the helm of Jesus’ garment” (Lk 8:43-44). Blind Bartimaeus refused to be shouted down. He yelled louder, and the Healer heard him (Mk 10:48-49). Zacchaeus would not be frustrated by his small stature. He climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus (Lk 19:3-4). The friends of a paralyzed man broke all rules, and without decorum tore the roof of a building to let him down for his miracle. People would have expected Jesus to see their act of transgression, but he rather saw their faith (Lk 5:18-20). The widows in Joppa refused that Dorcas would be buried, till Peter arrived to raise her (Act 9:37-40). These were the true demonstration of the ‘adamant faith’ of dogged fighters. They were not denied.

God is looking for His sons and daughters that will challenge Him with their adamant faith. We should understand that God is a person with feelings. He has a soft heart (Ps 86:15) and would not deny that desperate soul that will give everything in trusting Him.

Written by – Evangelist Oguazi Onyemobi